East of Eden
by yllimilly
Summary: DROPPED. Two people meant for each other, but who can't get together because of the ghost between them.
1. Chapter 1

East of Eden  
a YuGiOh fanfic by Milly  
beta: Chicary

[AU, Het, Jou/Mai, UST]  
Chapter One

The blonde man stood up, shoving his keys in the pockets of his blue jeans and keeping the cut flowers close to his chest with his free arm. He slammed shut the door of his Audi A4 with moderate force, earning from the lock a low, satisfying click. The vehicle was a recent acquisition, for he usually rode his pick-up truck when he worked (6 days a week) but he'd finally come to know financial stability in the recent years. It was one of his clients, a mechanic, who offered it to him as payment.

Joey took off his shades to get a good view of the now familiar scenery unraveling before him.

The cemetery seemed to be more popular on Sundays, he thought to himself. Mourning families were dressed in their best casual clothes. Girls in pink flowery dresses and too-white sandals. Boys in neat polo shirts and shorts. Two young women and a boy stood still in front of a tombstone draped in stars and stripes.

Further away, a young woman in a light summer dress was walking leisurely in the California sun. She seemed out of place, attired as if she could be heading for a picnic or a sunbath. It was a very bright day after all, bright like Serenity's smile.

Today was her birthday, and although he was told not to think of it that way, Joey liked to keep track of the years. She would be turning 28. He knew it could only do him harm to nourish these thoughts, since they wouldn't bring her back, but he found they gave him some comfort. A kind of comfort his mother wouldn't and his father couldn't bring him.

Joey was the only living - or lucid - relative Serenity could 'rely on'.

He had quickly taken it upon himself to honor her for the three of them, and had, therefore, come to the conclusion that since he was the one carrying that load, he could think whatever he wanted. No matter what the therapists said.

As far as he was concerned, they weren't the ones who were bereft. He was.

So every year, he would drive here, the hometown of their formative years, and solemnly walk up the graveyard aisle with a bouquet of tulips, yellow and orange, the combined colors of his and his sister's hair. He ordered the same arrangement from the same shop, carefully wrapped for him by the same middle-aged florist, year after year.

Joey knew his little sister would have approved of his choice. They both liked simple things.

He would always insist that the flowers were not for her grave, always telling the florist that they were for his sister's birthday. Because the lady found he was such a nice, good looking young man, she would always tip in and add a red tulip. "You can say it's my gift to her," She'd say, "But if you want to keep it, it's fine, too!" And then she would wink playfully at the handsome blonde.

For some reason, even when he was caught hanging out with with the street gangs, shoplifting, or even just yawning in class, Joey had always been 'the good kid' in the eyes of older women. On the other hand, he had won, much to his dismay, 'best friend status' in the eyes of girls his own age, without even trying. It seemed that the least he cared, the more they did.

Now just over thirty, Joey had become a more than eligible bachelor to these same girls, but he was married to his business, working intensely as a landscaper most of the year and taking a few months off in the winter to travel around. These last years, he had visited Yuugi twice in his new home in Tuscany, where he settled down after retiring from the demanding life as a professional Duelist.

In Tuscany, Joseph Wheeler discovered how wine and love were made. He learned how one can appreciate how grape and women both ripen as they age, all the while without falling in excess in one or the other. He would not become, in any way, his father's son.

Soon enough Joey caught up with the woman in the little dress. From the few feet that now separated them, he could see that she looked much younger from afar than she probably was. She did not acknowledge his presence, standing almost too perfectly still. The white and yellow fabric of her dress revealed firm, attractive legs. She wore simple straw sandals and a matching hat which most probably served to preserve her fair complexion. A gray scarf was thrown over her shoulders, bringing out the golden sheen of her curly blonde hair.

His gaze tore away from the stranger. He hadn't come here to flirt! His eyes surveyed names on the stones before him, which had become familiar to him over the years, looking for his mother's maiden name engraved on them. Joey's lower lip relaxed a bit and fell as his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

The female figure stood right in front of Serenity's grave, and he could feel her stare at it intensely.

Joey looked up at her again.

Suddenly he realized that he and that woman had once known each other.

This story has a peculiar short-chapter format. R&R! Any kind of criticism is much appreciated :D


	2. Chapter 2

East of Eden  
a YuGiOh fanfic by Milly  
beta: Chicary

[AU, Het, Jou/Mai, UST]  
Chapter Two

***

It was five after when she cut the engine. Five minutes was no big deal, after all.

Mai locked the doors of her convertible and walked leisurely away from the employee's parking lot towards the back door.

After a good dozen steps, the lack of weight on her arm warned her that she'd forgotten her purse in the car, and with it, her digital key. She came to a halt, considering for a moment the possibility of entering through the front door. No, they would see her. She knew people at HR closed their eyes on her being late, but she would leave them no choice if she made it too obvious. She had to go through the back door.

Soon enough, Mai declared that walking hurriedly was inelegant; reluctantly, she started jogging in her new kitty heals (not safe for work, but she didn't care; she saw no harm in it, and it was summer, after all). She found herself nervously wrestling with her car keys, irritated by the wet touch of her sweaty bangs sticking against her face from the heavy moisture of the late August days. Curse her having to run in this weather!

She hated sweating in her tailored uniform, but most of all, Mai hated rushing. Her favorite motto was 'always late, worth the wait'... and she meant it. After all, she was used to be sought after, to be expected, to be pampered. But this she'd recently gotten a new job, and along with it, a chance to start over.

It was different here; the patients needed her. If Mai didn't do her share of the work, the burden fell on her coworkers. They were all so sweet and compassionate and uncomplaining. For the first time in her life, Mai felt truly guilty. Although her late arrivals were still frequent, there was hope that they would lessen with tim; knowing is half the battle, right?

They say old habits die hard, especially when one is past twenty. But it is after twenty that the years seem to flip like the pages of a book, and Mai thought one doesn't mature as much from sixteen to twenty than twenty to twenty four (going on twenty five, but she's not looking forward to it). To say the least she didn't feel like she had grown into a woman too different than her twenty year old self.

***

The backdoor jerked open on its own as Mai was about to slide her key in the slot. A short black haired woman with vaguely Asian features greeted her, who let go of the breath she'd been holding absentmindedly before dashing into the air conditioned hallway.

"Gosh Vivian, you scared me. I thought for a second it was Doctor Hamadi. I'd feel so bad..."

"Especially since you've been late three times this week. Don't worry about it, he's a pretty forgiving man, I mean, you should know by now, dear."

One could tell Vivian was trying to lecture Mai, but she looked unnaturally happy to see her subordinate display such poor assiduity at work.

"I won't mark you as late, and I won't have you wear slippers over those stripper sandals of yours", she said, eyeing Mai's neatly pedicured feet with obvious envy, "if you take care of this little lady for me. There's been a change in the schedules and Mike is already overwhelmed."

Mai took a step back to avoid taking the envelope, feeling no shame in sporting a displeased look on her face. She knew what was in for her, and she didn't like it. Not at all.

"Oh Vivian... are you assigning me to a female patient again? You know I'd rather not... I can't stand them."

Her superior knew better than to give in to Mai's childish demands.

"Gold digger", Vivian shot back teasingly.

"Am not! It's not my fault if all the women can't be sweet and kind and docile like the men are. They are viciously rude, Vivian, I mean even **_you _**should know by now! " She swiftly wiped off a blond bang that was sticking on her cheek. "By the way, I have a theory about that."

Vivian seemed amused by Mai's triumphant look over what she considered a trivial matter. Moreover, she was not going to let the blonde rookie talk her way out of this, and they both knew it. She threw her a falsely intrigued look before walking away from Mai, motioning for her to come along.

Mai followed her into the employee room. "They're jealous! They're jealous of my youth because they're old and wrinkly and sour because of everything they haven't lived in their goddam sour life." Vivan's eyebrows raised on their own upon hearing such out-of-place remarks. "I work so much better with the men and you know it! Come on, even you said their mood changed for the better since I've started here."

The smaller, calmer woman came to a halt before a white table, turning around and leaning against it with her arms crossed. Still holding the envelope, it seemed that she was doing her best to remain silent as not to crush the so-called 'theory' of her boastful friend... who was visibly losing hope.

"Vivian... I don't actually need to work here, you know..."

She had sworn she would never use that excuse, but the heat had affected Mai's temper... and her few experiences bathing female seniors were just that bad.

"I don't even need to work. Like, at all. You realize that, do you?" She raised her eyebrows as if to say, 'know what I mean?'

"Mai, Mai, Mai... Weren't you a world - or regional - card game champion at some point? Dealing with constant pressure and still persevering? What've you become? A little hurdle comes your way and all your talk on 'personal growth' flies out the window. "

The hot-tempered recruit opened her mouth as to retort, but Vivian wouldn't let her.

"First of all - you cut me off before I could tell you more about her. It's fiiine if you don't want to listen, I'll let you read her file instead, okay? Gotta go now. See you at lunch!"

She handed Mai the envelope, and seeing her stubborn lack of reaction, she gently shoved it on her voluptuous chest, earning a priceless incredulous expression from Mai. Visibly savouring her victory, Vivian smirked, slightly shook her head in disbelief and let out an amused sigh before leaving for the cafeteria. "She came in yesterday night, make sure you give her some of your love!"

True, Mai's love worked quite well on half the Earth's population, but it miserably failed with the *other* half.

Defeated, she let her giant glossy, hot-pink, fashion-statement of a purse fall on the table where Vivian had leaned on, then slouched on a nearby plastic chair. Mai let out a sigh and glanced at the clock (an obvious freebie force fed to them by a pharmaceutical company), using the envelope as a fan.

The cool air felt immensely refreshing on her damp face and chest. Yes, chest. Being employed at an old people's homes - technically a palliative care establishment - was not going to make Mai surrender her habit of providing the lost male souls of this world with the blessed sight of her mind-blowing cleavage!

She finally brought herself to read the name handwritten on the brown paper.

KAWAI, Serenity.

Mai smiled sarcastically. Maybe this one would live up to her lovely first name. Mai had stopped counting the number of 'Grace', 'Consuelo' and 'Faith' who were everything but graceful, consoling and trusting.

Her eyes went on surveying the characters laid out before them, and something unusual caught their attention.

The date of birth. More specifically, the year.

Those digits were way too high. Mai made a quick mental calculation (this was one valuable life skill she had acquired playing Duel Monsters). She swallowed.

If she was correct, the 'little lady' had just turned 14.

***

Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate!


	3. Chapter 3

East of Eden  
a YuGiOh fanfic by Milly  
beta: Chicary

[AU, Het, Jou/Mai, UST]  
Chapter Three

A/N The more I work on this piece, the more I realize how _slow _a buildup this is going to be. Hang in there... Bear with me for a little more introspection! Enjoy!

***

Although he could not see the woman's features from underneath her imposing sunglasses, Joey had the distinct feeling it was _her_.

She had been two different women to him, and now she appeared to have a third incarnation.

His first pre-teen crush, the muse he was looking forward to meet in his (wet) dreams. The attractive young woman he was looking forward to meet everyday in the palliative care center.

Now, she was the middle aged lady who feigned shortsightedness at his very own sister's grave.

Joey sighed. It was probably a mistake. It was highly unlikely that she was who he thought she was.

No, he probably didn't know this woman after all. He was standing a few meters from her, and had cleared his throat once already. She would have taken notice of him by now if it really was her. He shook his head in disbelief.

_Wishful thinking_.

She was a random passerby, who didn't actually know Serenity. No, most likely, she had come here to pay her respects to a beloved relative just like he had, and she was simply pausing to take a closer look at the shockingly short life span carved on the pink stone she happened to pass by at that moment. She would soon notice Joey's presence behind her, and turn to him, see his bouquet and apologetically leave.

She did have the looks - and even aura - of a proper lady; surely she'd nod to him gracefully, offer him a kind smile with an understated word of condolence, and proceed to give him the privacy she knew he needed. Or, worst case scenario, she would turn out to be endearingly socially awkward despite the appearances, and she would voice her surprise at the deceased's young age. Of course, it would be obvious it was an innocent comment - she would mean no harm by it.

Joey felt he was getting carried away, letting his mind stray from the memory of his sister for whom he had driven here. The man shifted, waiting for her to make the first move. Ill at ease, he looked away from the grave, as if his gaze would intrude her personal space.

He could wait. He had all day.

***

It was a bad habit of his, finding familiar attributes in the women he saw in public places.

At age ten, he became engrossed with the memory of the mother who abandoned him. His parents' relationship had been rocky from the start. They had been sleeping in separate rooms from even before Joey could remember. Joey and Serenity's closeness was hence brought about by sharing a bunk bed during their most tender years.

Elaine Kawai, a second-generation Japanese-American, had been pushing for a divorce for a while, but just didn't have the heart to leave her abusive husband and break the family unit apart. Low self-esteem and high resilience combined, the woman took it all in, priding herself in being a virtuous woman. She felt she was doing her best to raise her stubborn son, with whom she felt no chemistry, and took refuge in babying her daughter, in an attempt to shelter her from the outside world.

For a while, they acted like a stable, 'struggling-like-everyone-else' family. Their life seemed uneventful to their neighbors, and even their loved ones.

But the day, the hour, the very _minute_ Bruce Wheeler laid a hand on her precious daughter, something clicked in Elaine's mind. It was all it took for her to irrationally flee the home with Serenity, taking pains in hiding from then on, in fear of a very potential retribution... leaving her son behind in his father's 'good care'.

All that, Joey learned it much later, from aunts and other relatives. At the time, he was just another attention-seeking kid suddenly deprived of his mother, and he hoped to see her around every corner. He would openly approach his mother's look-alikes with a heart-melting 'mommy', thus earning a vast array of distraught, amused or saddened reactions from the female strangers.

For a while, he was also drawn to frail, red headed girls, who would sadly not give the time of day to the acne ridden teenage, but his 'Serenity' phase' didn't last as long. Stuck in a suddenly estrogen-deprived home, with an emotionally handicapped father, Joey found the next woman of his life in the card game Yuugi and co. had introduced him to: Duel Monsters.

Mai Valentine - her "stage" name - was the only female among the top pro duelists, and she was _very_ feminine to boot. A proud summer blonde with a curvaceous yet slim figure, she also happened to be a talented duelist with a public persona characterized by a flirtatious and fierce personality.

Hadn't he met her in real person in such unlikely circumstances, Mai Kujaku would have remained Mai Valentine: his idolized, unattainable, first adolescent love. During the time she took Serenity "under her wing", Joey met a surprisingly lonely young woman, along with her entourage of anxieties and insecurities.

Then again, the Mai Kujaku he got to know would have been no more than one of the many important woman in his life, hadn't she disappeared from his life so abruptly. He felt his heart twitch at the thought; this 'breakup' of sorts still felt like unfinished business to him, and he could never really put a cross on it.

For that reason, young Joey Wheeler found himself obsessed with her, at least for the time the scars of Mai-withdrawal were still fresh. He enrolled himself in a part-time vocational program, all the while providing for himself and his tuition, and immersed himself completely in this demanding lifestyle. By the time his memories of the blonde woman had faded, he had already become a workaholic. This phase of his life lasted for a while as well...

Somehow, as soon as he took part in the dating scene, Joey found himself not mindlessly running after slim, young, boisterous blondes.

Rather, every woman he got intimate with had a very particular 'je-ne-sais-quoi' that reminded him of Mai.

One lover had her laugh. One eyed other men with the same arrogance. Another one would react coyly like she would in most unexpected times.

For once, instead of leading to awkward situations like the endearing patronizing attitude from his mother figures, or the disdainful remarks thrown at him by his sister's look alikes, Joey's curiosity lead, for the first time, to fateful encounters.

The more he dared approach the women who reminded him of the 'Duelist-turned-auxiliary-nurse', the more he learned to let loose with them in more ways than one. Joey already took for granted that sex and love were completely unrelated from his household experiences and that love itself can be devoid of tenderness. But in the arms of these free spirited, epicurean women, he learned but that there can be genuine respect, tenderness and mutual pleasure even in a casual encounter.

A butterfly flew by, distracting Joey from his reflections.

Something was odd.

He and the attractive stranger had been standing a few meters apart for over a minute, and none of them had made a move to acknowledge the other.

Were they unrelated passerby's, they would have started interacting.

But this lack of interaction was in fact _a form of _interaction in itself.

It was clear that by now, she not pretending to mourn in silence, and Joey could not imagine someone could be as rude as to give him the cold shoulder in a cemetery.

He didn't feel comfortable with stepping in her personal space, stepping forward to lay down the bouquet between her and the grave. It would be unpleasant for both of them if he cleared his throat once more. He would feel bad if he simply left, went for a walk downtown, the thought of the tulips he'd temporarily left in the car weighing on his mind.

Tentatively, he stepped back, hoping it would win him some time. As he did, his hands unconsciously clashed around the wrapping of the bouquet, and the rigid plastic ruffled in a crisp sound.

She shivered at the noise, not turning to see where it was coming from. And as he saw her body tense for a second, Joey confirmed she was not indifferent to him.

She was expecting him to act first.

***

R&R! Constructive criticism will help me become a better writer! :)


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